Too much for one week

This was a strange week of reading: a variety of  genres (that normally aren't my favorite ones), betas and published, short stories and first drafts of chapters.

I'm feeling a bit dizzy, perhaps I should give it a break.

But that's not what I want. I  just want to get my head clear for the next challenge. And yes, this week was full of challenges.

One of these challenge is beta reading. No, I didn't give up after my first try (Beta reading). The girl I thought to be offended and hurt by my comments a few days later sent me a book she had even published to help her make changes. What a surprise!

I decided to continue beta-reading. As most of the authors offered fantasy or romance, sci-fi or history - all not my favorite genres - I decided to offer my "service" to the only one labelled horror thriller by an Indian author. I won't mention the title because it will be released in three days. I had a lot to comment about the storyline, the style, the characters...but as he said it was too late for changes. But his reaction encouraged me further. My thoughts were appreciated.

So I gave a  "romantic thriller" a chance. Keith's first novel. Very explicit sex descriptions in relationships I would never approve in reality nor do I like to find them in books. I told him so, but I tried to stay objective, pointing out where I found weeknesses, giving ideas how to improve his story without changing it to my tastes. That was indeed a challenge. And it isn't over! This novel is meant to be the first part of a trilogy and he is sending me now bits and pieces, the product of his mind storming, and appreciates my feedback. A very interesting and engaging process.

my review on goodreads

And then I found Michaels request to beta read his published romance. He wanted to know "if good enough was really good enough". I thought I had read enough sex scenes for at least a year - but it was Michael, my first guest, and I knew he at least has writing skills. And it flashed me.

This typical cover is hiding a gem nobody would expect here. Yes, there is explicit sex but not as an end in itself. It is a very well written young adult love story describing thoughts and feelings in an astoundingly real way and has true-to-life dialogues.

In this case "good enough" was indeed good enough - better than that.


Today I'll throw myself into the next beta read. Again a romance, more sex to come. Obviously that's what people write ad read. The author seems to be desperately seeking some feedback.

In between all this beta-reading I got the opportunity to read Mark Matthew's short story. He's one of my favorite authors so I had to read this story although I really don't like either zombies nor running. I don't watch zombie movies, a disadvantage, because I didn't understand all the innuendos, but I finished this very short story with goose bumps all other.






For NetGalley I'm actually reading some very different short stories.

An other challenge here!
I'm only half way through because it's so difficult to read the various slangs and accents.
The first story is from 1896, I've arrived at the 1930s now - and it is depressing.

my review on goodreads

After finishing Michaels romance I really wanted to read his other book. So I bought it for 1.11 € (For months I hadn't actually bought a book). Labelled as Science fiction, another genre I don't favor.

That was again something different. The shining world of globalization and privatization. Again very well written, very interesting characters - but an open end that left me unsatisfied.







Quite a lot for just one week - when did  find the time to read all this? I honestly don't know. Probably I'm neglecting things I should do instead.